Glossary · Maps and linking

DITA map

Also known as: ditamap, map

In DITA, a map is a document that organizes topics and other resources into a structured collection — typically a deliverable such as a manual or help system. It defines the hierarchy and sequence of topics, their relationships and key definitions, and can contain other maps.

DITA
Maps and linking

In one sentence

A DITA map assembles topics into a deliverable: it defines hierarchy, order, relationships and keys, and can include other maps.

Example

The map “Air purifier AP-200 user guide” references the safety submap, the concept on filters with its task and reference as children, and defines the key “product-name”.

Explained in context

Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.

How it applies

Technical documentation: Topics do not know where they are used; the map decides. The same topic can appear in a user manual map, a service manual map and a help system map, in a different position each time.
Structure: Maps contain topic references that form the navigation hierarchy, submaps (<mapref>, or <topicref format="ditamap">), key definitions (<keydef>), relationship tables and metadata in <topicmeta> that cascades to the referenced topics.
Publishing: A map is the unit of publishing. Processors such as the DITA Open Toolkit (a separate open-source project, not part of the standard) take a map and produce PDF, HTML5 or other formats.
AI and retrieval: The map is the only place where the context of a topic is recorded — which manual, which chapter, which product. Keeping that context as metadata when topics are indexed avoids answers taken from the wrong product's manual.

Map vs. bookmap

A generic map describes a hierarchy of topics. A bookmap is a specialized map with the parts of a printed book — front matter, chapters, appendices, back matter.

In DITA markup

<map>
  <title>Air purifier AP-200 user guide</title>
  <keydef keys="product-name" href="product-names.dita#names/ap200"/>
  <topicref href="filter-basics.dita">
    <topicref href="replace-filter.dita"/>
    <topicref href="filter-specs.dita"/>
  </topicref>
  <mapref href="safety.ditamap"/>
</map>